Film

March 16, 2014

If you're interested in maker culture or optics, the film by Teller (of Penn & Teller) about Tim Jenison's multi-year obsession to discover how Vermeer painted is a must-see.

I left the film vaguely disturbed. I understand the intellectual argument made in the film by Jenison and David Hockney -- that genius comes in all forms and that there is no intellectual difference between using mathematical formulas and other aids to perceiving perspective, and the technique uncovered by Jenison which almost certainly was the method by which Vermeer painted his work.

Vermeer's use of light is legendary. While I always considered Vermeer's paintings cold, especially as compared to painters like Rembrandt or Velasquez, I admired their luminosity -- and they had always seemed to me like photographs. As Jenison showed in the film, this is very likely what they were: 17th century photographs, made possible by optics. Jenison created -- or re-created -- a lens and mirror system inspired by the camera obscura. With the help of a convex shaving-type mirror, he achieved a level of clarity of projection that made possible a duplicate of Vermeer's "The Music Lesson." (left - the original).

In the film, there's a remarkable moment where Jenison realizes that while he's laid out the straight horizontal bars of the virginal (the musical instrument at which the young woman is standing), the curved mirror he is using causes a visual curvature in the complex dolphin scrollwork. Jenison notices there's such a "flaw" in the original painting and corrects it in his version. I'm familiar with the painting and had noticed before that the scrollwork wasn't "perfect" -- one of the parts of it that I most liked. Before the movie.

Tim's Vermeer is a documentation of an heroic effort -- the most enjoyable parts of the film to me were watching Jenison grind pigments and make paint, or laboriously grinding his own 17th-century quality lens. He uses every technology at his disposal to recreate Vermeer's studio in Texas. I was even willing to put up with Penn Jillette's skeptic blather and painted fingernail (yes, I know why he's always done that and I do love Penn) during these fascinating segments. I laughed when Jenison sawed his lathe in half because it was two inches too short to turn the legs of the Spanish chair. "I'm not a woodworker," said Jenison. "But you just can't buy chairs like this anywhere." So - he made it.

I think the film bothered me so much because they did nail it. There's no question Vermeer painted with the aid of optics, and very likely, something similar to the system Jenison created. There is no sign of sketching or underpainting with Vermeer's paintings. That alone shows that something else was at play other than the traditional methods of the other Dutch masters. Several other signs of use of optics are shown throughout the film. Once even one of these is shown, it becomes obvious to anyone who's ever painted.

Which Jenison had not. He's creating "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" using optical techniques and equipment. A British scientist is called in to explain various limits in human visual perception. David Hockney, whose work I've never much cared for, lends art expertise -- Hockney's book proposing that Vermeer used optical aids to paint was one of the inspirations for the massive undertaking.

So I'll say one thing about the film. I now like David Hockney. Watching him smoke and pontificate and drive and smoke and pontificate was a huge pleasure.

This is a film about maker obsession first, and art, second.

Now to me, Vermeer's work looks colder than it ever had. I can admire the genius of setting up the system to reproduce accurately beyond mere human sight. I can admire a man who was smart enough to make himself a 17th century photographer. I can admire the patient meticulousness and watchmaker's eye and hand of both Vermeer and his 21st century counterpart, Tim Jenison.

I have seen in-person several Rembrandts. These immediately strike the eye -- after 400 years -- the person is looking out at you. And these were not painted with the aid of any optics other than eye or hand.

I have seen in person several paintings by the man I call "the Master," John Singer Sargent. Sargent painted enough closer to our time that we know how he worked. Not with mirrors and lenses.

In Sargent, I think I see the idealized person or their inner nature looking back. Sargent's paintings are also larger than life, so they have the full impression that the clients of this portrait painter of the wealthy chose to make.

"The Daughters of Edward D. Boit" (1882) John Singer Sargent.

"Lady Agnew" (1893), John Singer Sargent.

And of course, it's hard to pick a favorite, but I have seen him in person. And I really like Dr. Pozzi. "Dr. Pozzi at Home" (1881) John Singer Sargent, which is at the Armand Hammer Museum.

And the Master is just one of my personal favorites. Rembrandt painted people's true nature. Sargent, the "ideal." Velasquez, something rather different.

July 08, 2012

When I was young, some might have said I was self-destructive, filled with rage, and on the road to ruin.

Seriously. I was obsessed with A Clockwork Orange and Malcolm McDowell. I felt like a droog. Lacking much of a body, I dressed as a boy, with 28x32 Levis (back when that meant what it said), a tight white t-shirt and suspenders on occasions. I purchased a cane with a bronze duck head with which I did unspeakable damage to other people's property at the Claremont Colleges.

I was never caught. I took pic on left today. I love you Malcom. What happened to you bro?

February 06, 2012

After reading a cheesy Huffington Post article about a man from Milwaukee who was discovered dead in his home after four years, I was led to the website for what seems like an exceptional film about Joyce Vincent, who was found dead in a small flat in North London in 2006. She had been dead for about three years.

Joyce's body was surrounded by Christmas gifts that she had been wrapping, and her television was still on! The filmmakers caught up with many people who knew her over the years. The film is so powerful that it impressed the Guardian's critic Peter Bradshaw, who actually raised questions about people having trust in the "welfare state" and personal loneliness and lack of connection with others - yeah, the Guardian asking questions about the "welfare state."

This article by the filmmaker Carol Morley answers a few more questions, and has a picture of the real Joyce Vincent. Carol describes her fascination with Joyce's situation, and how she could have died alone, and been forgotten for three years - no one thought to check even after three years of unpaid bills - and rent. Joyce lived in a housing "estate," so that seems to indicate how seriously they take rent nonpayment. The same could happen here in the U.S. for subsidized housing, but perhaps not for three years.

As someone who lost someone who died alone almost exactly a year ago (but not forgotten and left in a "bedsit," which I think is the London way to say "studio apartment"), this touches me in so many ways. If you died, who would miss you? If Meredith were not here, I believe that the two cats would quickly eat me.

July 23, 2011

I remember reading reviews of various types in the 70's and 80's. This was a time when I was vulnerable, or let's say - impressionable - and the things critics said could influence me to see a movie or television show, or not. I could even be influenced to buy and read a book by such people.

Glancing at this review by elderly TIME magazine classic-era film critic Richard Corliss, I am reminded why this hasn't been the case for many years.

Corliss alleges,

Movie genres, no less than great civilizations, have their periods of ascent and descent. Musicals, Westerns and the dead-serious romance have all flourished, then nearly perished. Now the superhero format looks close to being spent.

Pretty strong assertion. He backs it up by citing the numerous other superhero movies released this summer. First, he lists Thor, X-Men: First Class, and Green Lantern. (Note: it's so tempting to call this guy "Dick" for short). "Dick" is right. All three of those are superhero movies.

Then Dick adds these other "superhero" movies: Transformers and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. I don't know about you, but I never saw those giant toys as "superheroes." They're giant alien robots inspired by toys. As to Pirates of the Caribbean, that's a fantasy movie inspired by pirate and sea legends, and in this case - Tim Powers' 1987 novel On Stranger Tides, nominated for a World Fantasy Award.

One way to say what a lazy pig Corliss is, is to say that as creative energy across the board has passed his 70's ethic behind, so has the days of a film critic being able to write whatever he wants, completely ignoring facts, mixing and matching genres and subgenres, and ignoring the difference between a bedrock comic book character like Captain America and a movie series inspired by a ride at Disneyland: Pirates of the Caribbean.

You think this is bad enough? 70's enough for you? He adds the upcoming "superhero" movies this summer: Rise of Planet of the Apes and Conan the Barbarian. Both are "reboots," and Corliss could write something more general about "reboots" - or Hollywood thinking *another* Spiderman is necessary.

Before the 60's and 70's Planet of the Apes films, there were books, Mr. Corliss. They were written by a French person, "Dick." Or - a Frenchman. They were first-published in . . . French. Since part of your pathetic mid-20th Century ethic is to hate on your country that made your limping, crappy magazine and gave you your sweet job - I get why you picked Captain America to whale on, not Green Lantern. But you are inadvertently whaling on a piece of French culture with Planet of the Apes, based on a 1963 novel by Pierre Boulle of which millions of copies were sold. M. Boulle also wrote another novel (no illustrations - imagine that) which was adapted to film: The Bridge Over the River Kwai. This is not to say that the film adaptations of Planet of the Apes aren't of wildly varying quality - they are - and the upcoming reboot trailer does not look promising.

But how do you get "superhero genre" out of "French science fiction"? How do you get superhero out of Capt. Jack Sparrow, a fanciful modern take on the great pirate legends, popularized from real life characters like Blackbeard and the real Dread Pirate Roberts, and Robert Louis Stevenson . . . on to Tim Powers?

How 'bout that superhero Conan? It's like the entirity of fantastic literature is rolled into one big "superhero" movie. Later, they made comic books or graphic novels out of Conan, because comics wanted scripts and characters too, Corliss. Conan, like pretty much 80-90 percent of every American film ever made is based on a book series. As much as you might want to pretend there's no such thing as books and novelists, Corliss, there really was a Robert E. Howard. There was (and sort of - still is) a Weird Tales magazine and it wasn't a Marvel or DC comic book, Corliss. There were Conan novels, Corliss - many of them - predating the older Captain America serials you recommended as preferable to the new movie. Robert E. Howard's books are still in print.

I saw a few new trailers at Captain America. I wonder where Corliss will put that "superhero" John Carter of Mars in his death of Comic Book Hero Filmography.

Captain America is just as enjoyable in its way as Thor was earlier this summer. I couldn't imagine how they'd make Thor likeable, but they managed to do it. And seems to me Thor was a real Norse god before he ended up as an Avenger. Just sayin'.

You can not like Captain America, Corliss. The Red Skull didn't like him, either. In fact, he could be kind of insufferable in some comics. But every movie with any vaguely unrealistic or speculative element is a "superhero" movie or "comic book" movie? Really. The days where people would lap this up are 40 years in the past, Corliss. That's why you had 31 shares out of a major national publication, Corliss - and your better, smarter, faster, harder working competitors have hundreds or thousands of references or shares.

I'm a female science fiction writer, Mr. Corliss. I write prose. I don't write about super heroes any more than Pierre Boulle did in his thoughtful 1963 book. Jack Sparrow is a pirate, not a superhero. Different genre. You're arrogant enough to call Gone With the Wind a "guilty pleasure." I'm arrogant enough to call you an ignorant, lazy, self-satisfied relic of an earlier generation with no standards whatsoever. The only thing you have to put to your name is self-entitled bigotry and provincialism. And you have the signal shame of hating your own country and culture and having it color your work and what you present to readers. How 70's of you.

May 08, 2011

Imagine if I was no good as an artist, and someone let me loose on the highest-priced computer art programs, then gicleed the "results" on an 8-story high canvas.

It might be almost half as abominable as the more recent Sy Fy Channel original movies. I thought Mansquito and Rock Monster were horrific.

Now that I have cable and not Direct TV, I've been watching shows I'd never have watched before. Therefore, I was pottering around last night with the Sy Fy Channel on. It was the Saturday night Sy Fy channel original movie night!

First, I saw the end of Ferocious Planet (2011). If you'll note this DVD-type (I cannot imagine this in Blu-Ray) ad art, which almost makes this thing look like an actual film, it looks like they might actually try to sell this stuff! Like in stores!

The alien skeleton monster looks a LOT better in that picture than in the "actual" "film." I honestly have never seen anything quite like this, although some of the actors were okay, especially considering they were running around in . . . holy smokes, this rotten egg was filmed in Ireland!

Well, I only saw the last few minutes of Ferocious Planet. I kept watching (everyone knows I'm a masochist) because then . . . Almighty Thor (2011) came on!

I looked on the Sy Fy channel list of 145 original movies and it looks like this isn't the first "ripoff" Sy Fy Channel original. I noted Battle of Los Angeles, with Nia Peeples and Kel Mitchell (yes, Kel of Kenan and Kel), Lost City Raiders with James Brolin (!) and Species: The Awakening.

Look at this!!! This is the budget Thor, Cody Deal. And the budget Loki . . . wait for it . . . does he look familiar? It's . . . wait for it . . .

Richard Grieco.

Let me tell you, I used to have a little bit of a crush on Richard Grieco. Remember 21 Jump Street?

I think I'd prefer to keep my former image of Richard Grieco. The one where he looks like this:

So young. So handsome. So full of . . .

Whyyyyyyyy??????

To say this new Sy Fy Channel Thor is bad is to misuse that simple word. There was this Spanish-sounding warrior girl wearing shorts who was dragging the totally weepy Thor around L.A. (yeah). Turns out it was Patricia Velasquez, who is a beautiful Venezuelan actress that people will remember as the Egyptian lover Anksenamun from The Mummy.

Ya! That girl.

Let's just say neither she nor Richard Grieco looks a whole lot like they used to, though she's holding up better.

But this isn't the most "special" thing about this dreadful ripoff Thor. Right off, I noticed that Odin sounded like somebody who might belong to a motorcycle club, or be qualified to join one.

I'll let this promo website say what it seems the "creators" thought beforehand: "Marvel's Thor may have Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins as Odin, but could Hopkins powerbomb a guy through a table like pro wrestler "Big Sexy" Kevin Nash, who will be playing the ruler of Asgard in The Asylum's mockbuster Almighty Thor?"

This explains it all. Honestly, the worst movie I have ever sort of seen.

Note: Patricia Velasquez has quite an accent, but she really tried hard. She had to say "come back to my dwelling" at least 30 times to the retarded, wimpy "Thor." She had to pretend he was doing anything except stand there in his costume and look mentally-challenged.

April 29, 2011

I stayed up late last night watching the 3-hour WWII epic The Young Lions (1958). The film is an adaptation of Irwin Shaw's (Rich Man, Poor Man) hefty WWII classic, multicharacter novel.

The novel and film follow the war stories of three different soldiers - two Americans (Noah Ackerman, a Jewish young man and Michael Whiteacre - a Broadway guy) and one German (Christian Diestl).

My memory of the book isn't that clear, but I gathered that the film departs drastically from Shaw's uncompromising conclusion, in which Diestl kills the wholly-admirable Noah Ackerman, and then Whiteacre the heel shoots Diestl. In the book, Diestl becomes a cold-hearted, animalistic, amoral Nazi after starting as an idealistic, charming young man.

In the film, Diestl is portrayed by a platinum-blond Marlon Brando. This isn't as bad as it sounds. He actually looks pretty darn godlike and is referred to as such by the females he naturally attracts. Whether or not you are interested in WWII topics, this film is also interesting in that it features two of not just the most famous, but best, actors of their generation: Marlon Brando as Diestl, and Montgomery (post-accident) Clift as Noah Ackerman.

In the original novel, Diestl morphed into a villainous, dislikeable character. This never happens in the film. I read some review material that indicated that Brando's vanity dictated that Diestl be portrayed as a naive charmer with high ideals that didn't wither throughout the film. The King Nazi in the movie is Diestl's superior officer, portrayed by the definitive Nazi, Maximilian Schell, in his first Hollywood role. I learned that gifted Swiss actor Schell did not speak English at this time, and spoke his part phonetically. This film effortlessly makes use of unbelievable acting power.

In the war of humanity, however, mirrored by the acting one-upmanship in this epic film, it is Montgomery Clift and his character Noah Ackerman who wins. As I noted some reviewers pointing up, The Young Lions was filmed at close enough proximity to the actual war (14 years later) that no one questioned what our troops encountered when they liberated the concentration camps. Diestl in the film is completely destroyed upon staggering into a smaller camp at the end of the war. Starving, bedraggled and desperate, he gnaws a piece of bread and slurps coffee as the camp Commandant (not as portrayed in Hogan's Heroes, either) matter-of-factly describes the logistical problems of exterminating 1,500 camp residents a day (he lists the various categories - Jews first, of course, followed by Poles, Gypsies, homosexuals, political dissidents and other undesirables). Brando's look of disgust and horror is priceless as he gradually realizes what is being discussed - where he is, and exactly what sort of shameful hell he has wandered into.

The parallel story of Noah Ackerman, played by Montgomery Clift is not very subtly contrasted with that of the Aryan God, Diestl. Shy, self-effacing and genuine to his inner core, which proves to be that of a real hero, Noah Ackerman illustrates America's experience with Jews during WWII. His story interestingly mirrored my own, in that Noah falls in love with a very "white" New England blueblooded girl played by Hope Lange, whose father has never even met a Jew before Noah shows up on the bus to ask for her hand in marriage. Her very decent, humane father walks with Noah around the Jew-free Vermont town where his family has lived for generations, and Noah truthfully discloses to him that he has no family, no family plot in a cemetery, and he is a poor Jew who earns $35 a week, and to top it all off, is 1-A in the draft. He also says he loves Hope and will always love her. By the end of the walk, Hope's father has decided that he will invite this alien stranger home for a turkey dinner. Hope knows, and the father has already explained to Noah, that this means he is "all right" and can ask for her hand in marriage.

Noah, as played by the amazing Montgomery Clift, who could not have been thinner without hospitalization, is a thin, awkward, burning sliver of a man with the heart of a lion. He overcomes blatant anti-Semitic prejudice in his basic training barracks with no complaints, courageously enduring beatings that are far more difficult to watch, and satisfying to see overcome, than similar scenes in From Here to Eternity. Then of course, and it's not overstated until the explicit concentration camp liberation at the end of the film, Noah is the ultra-courageous hero who successfully battles the horrible Nazis to free Europe.

The overarching message is that - America certainly had and has its flaws, but it allowed Noah's story to occur. In the opening scene of the film, Brando as Diestl explains to Barbara Rush (who turns out to be the girlfriend of the third main character, Michael Whiteacre, portrayed by ever-cool Dean Martin) why Germans would support Hitler. Having previously shown himself to be the quintessential Bavarian Alpine consort to vacationing wealthy American girls, Diestl tells her that "In Europe, it's difficult for a man to rise above his station." He confesses that at one time, he desperately wanted to be a doctor, but that his family lacked the funds to put him all the way through medical school. In the off-season from being a ski-gigolo, he says, he works as an assistant shoemaker in his father's shop. He believes that Hitler will change all of this - Hitler has promised, he says. When he is confronted with Hitler's warlike plans, including stating he would conquer the whole world, Brando/Diestl says "Let's not have this political discussion. They just go round and round and nothing is ever solved."

Well, seven years later, the guy ended up shot dead in the forest outside the concentration camp that forced him to face exactly who and what Hitler really was. Forced him to look the nightmare of Nazism full-on, and forced him to see what he had done with his young, initially thoughtful and idealistic life. Instead of the promised university education, which would have enabled Christian to save lives, instead, he has spent his life taking lives despite his squeamishness.

Bad, bad leader. And bad follower. That is why it must have really sucked to be a Nazi.

April 02, 2011

Immediately after I saw Sucker Punch (2011) I liked it a lot more than I do right now and expect to in the future. That said, lovers of extreme CGI action, beautiful women and awesome visuals with pretty-cool music will like Sucker Punch. Probably.

That's a promotional poster done by artist Alex Pardee of my favorite character Rocket, played by Jena Malone. People got copies of these at ComiCon. You will guess about 1 minute into Rocket giving Baby Doll a tour of the asylum that no matter where the movie is going next - this girl's going to die. I'm not spoiling the movie by saying this.

The story doesn't seem so bad at first, and there are plenty of high points and things to enjoy. On later reflection . . .

I think the reason this film is "20% fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes, and that most of the extreme slams are from male critics is pretty simple. Only the most un-self-aware guy could watch this film, oogle at the girls, geek out at the gnarly action sequences (samurai, semi-WWI/II steam-powered zombies with a bunny mecha, killing a dragon baby and battling its gigantic mother and orcs, and stealing a bomb from a speeding mag-lev train after killing cyborgs), and, like gobbling down a 2 pound hot fudge sundae topped with lard, start feeling greasy and dirty and like they ate way too much. A lot of people are saying Sucker Punch is sexist, for a variety of reasons. I'm thinking most guys will enjoy all the obvious guy benefits of the film and then realize . . . but wait! All the guys except Scott Glenn were subhuman troglodytes. I'm not a troglodyte! What is this guy saying here? 95% of the 80% "rotten" reviews have that as a subtext. The plot is as follows:

Beautiful Baby Doll (played by Emily Browning, who also sings for the songtrack) is clearly shown to be 20 years old upon admission to the grungy insane asylum, although she looks more like 12, has been totally screwed-over rapist David Copperfield style by her disgusting stepfather. In trying to save her apparently actually-age-twelve younger sister, Baby Doll escapes their gothic grunge house, finds a gun, and returns, confronting loathesome stepdaddy, but she wildly fires, missing the horrible stepdad and killing her sister. Stepdad does what any self-respecting fat, drunken incestuous molester would do and commits Baby Doll to the asylum, where she almost immediately learns that a "special doctor" will arrive in 5 days to give her a lobotomy.

- in this first, dialog free part (think '300' only on Neil Gaiman) I missed the fact that Baby Doll's little sister has a stuffed bunny, which later shows up in the dream/action sequence as a bunny rabbit mecha.

On to the story. Once in the asylum, Baby Doll is taken in by a nasty orderly who's obviously a total perver. He wears a key around his neck that says "Mt. Pleasant" - clearly a master key needed to get out. The dirty, ragged, perversely sexy asylum girls are under the charge of a female doctor doing weird musical experiments, played by beautiful Carla Gugino (Sally Jupiter in Watchmen). The asylum scenes are straight out of Caged Heat (1974), only a little nastier.

Then the movie enters its second level, which is Baby Doll's "fantasy" of her asylum experience. (see above - Rocket is adorable, but it's clear from minute one of the brothel tour she gives to Baby Doll - destined to die) It's not an asylum any longer, it's a brothel/night club, the orderly has transformed into a greasy, eyeliner-wearing pimp, and the female doctor is now a typical Russian-inspired hardcase "dance instructor" (supposedly the accent is Polish) training the girls to dance for wealthy, totally repulsive brothel patrons. That's right, Baby Doll's been thrown in a horrible nutbin where she's going to be lobotomized in five days, and her idea of "escape" is into a grungy Moulin Rouge-type brothel.

Baby Doll suddenly morphs into a 4'10" "leader" of these beautiful, totally cowed girls and hatches an escape plan. They have to get 5 items in order to escape: a map, a lighter, a knife, and a key - and something else. Solving a mystery set forth by the magical Scott Glenn, Baby Doll's fantasy-battle Yoda-guy.

Each time in the "brothel world," Baby Doll has to dance (never shown) for one of the nasty, repulsive men in the brothel world, which will distract them while one of the other girls steals the required item for their escape. As Baby Doll starts to dance, she closes her enormous, false-eyelash and eyeliner-rimmed eyes, and enters the battle fantasy of choice, accompanied by her peeps - the other girls. It's not too hard to make the connection that Baby Doll's imagined sexy dance is her version of "doing battle" and conquering these guys, who all deserved to be kicked in the balls, then castrated.

I was surprised this movie was made by a man, because it almost does make the connection to "women can be action heroes too." In the fantasy sequences, the girls fight - they fight together, they're brave (although it's obviously video game set on "novice"), they kill the bad guys and creatures and win, mostly. There's no doubt that the horrible men are horrible. There are no "shades of gray" in this story. The bad guys are as bad as possible, and with Zach Snyder's visual gift, these are some of the most hideous specimens I've ever seen. The camera lingers lovingly on the fat slob cook's veined face. I, who have likened faces to cabbages and lips to slices of liverwurst, couldn't come up with a description that hideous for such a monster. Even "Blue," played by Oscar Isaac, who is a nice-looking guy, was repulsive with and without pencil thin moustache.

And the women are beautiful. Even though I got tired of the sexy Sailor Moon and pervy dance studio shrugs, corsets, thigh highs and character shoes (I'm thinking 99% of guys won't get tired of the outfits), all the girls looked great. I don't know if people have noticed but most films that feature an ensemble female cast usually feature one girl who isn't as pretty as the others. This girl is usually the "antagonist" in some mild manner. It can either be the fat girl who betrays her girlfriends out of jealousy, or the homely girl who betrays her girlfriends . . . out of jealousy. This film doesn't go there. All the girls are beautiful. Some are smarter and stronger than others. But there's no "weak link" who doesn't fit in with her "sisters" because she wants the guy but the prettier girl got him. One girl does betray the others, but it's not because she's ugly and jealous. It's because she's naive and terrified.

Well, I'm a lot closer to Madam Gorski ("you old whore!") than the girls in terms of my current stage in life. But I'm of the first generation of girls to be able to do nearly everything that guys have always done. This movie's a metaphor of that feeling. Even though it's "Caged Heat" and sex-ploitation and all that - the movie really is a metaphor about "You don't have to sit around and dance for these men any more."

Some women can run with that, and the movie does show that. Others can't. It's not like in the game of life among men, most men don't end up as real and metaphorical losers, while a few are winners. I see the reviews and the imagined "demographic" of this film is all over the map. Many reviewers say it's aimed at 13-year old gamer guys. Others say it's guys in their 20's, and still others say guys age 35 to 40. I don't see too many people saying the movie is aimed at women, and the situation that Baby Doll is in, is something that few women would feel very good thinking too much about. Thinking about what's been done to Baby Doll does inspire a desire to blow up any number of steam-powered Nazi zombies and then the Hindenburg.

I really don't like what happened to Baby Doll and the last scene, though it redeems it for many people, didn't redeem anything for me. I don't like the fact that I guessed the thin plot right off, knew who would die, who would betray, and was only amazed by the depth of repulsiveness able to be portrayed by Zack Snyder in those close-ups and sweaty faces. I've played all those games myself. I've written all those stories better. But I do have to hand it to Zack Snyder. I think there's a lot of him in this movie, for good, for bad, and for ugly. It was expensive, it's loud, it's extremely visual and there's a lot to like. But Sucker Punch is anything but a feel-good movie. I feel like I ate a big lard sundae myself. And I need to go throw up.

March 24, 2011

Like everyone else, I am bittersweet about the passing of Elizabeth Taylor. I am so sorry she's gone, for my own self - because I adored her and everything about her. But I also know as everyone does, that she's in heaven now . . . people have said she's with her great friend Michael Jackson, and there are her great loves to consider. We have to think that heaven is perfect, because I know that she didn't just love one man. What's the heaven situation with both Mike Todd and Richard Burton? There has to be a workaround . . .

Look at this gorgeous suit from her Academy Award-winning film, Butterfield 8 (1960). I already did her eyes, the Cleopatra makeup, and her extraordinary beauty . . .

But the clothes!

Explain to me why it isn't possible today to construct dresses of the degree of perfection, beauty and class of this iconic green dress.

This indeed why Elizabeth Taylor was and will ever be my favorite actress, and all-good in my book under all circumstances. I might love the style and femininity of Marilyn Monroe, and I do, and I might be a lot "closer" to Marilyn as a fellow blonde, but Elizabeth Taylor was not only the symbol of great beauty when I was growing up, she was the perfect woman.

At least for an independent, uncompromising person like me. There's just no place in my world for imitation women.

Camille Paglia is so right about what Elizabeth meant to us. She was a goddess. She was feminine enough to be a complete woman. There is no need for women to "compete" with men - because men (sorry RuPaul) play their role in the world, and women fill theirs. As to Camille's comments about Elizabeth's ability to be a partner and friend to men both gay and straight - it is the same. When you love yourself, and I believe Elizabeth did love herself, loving others is easy.

As to her extraordinary beauty, I also believe that it isn't possible to be as beautiful as Elizabeth always was, if it did not come from a deep inner source.

This is one of the great frustrating stereotypes. Of course not every extraordinarily beautiful person is beautiful inside as well as out, but the great beauties always have an inner strength that shines through.

I'm, as usual, searching for answers to tell the best story I can - and have written a lifetime searching for the heroine's story. Elizabeth, I think, once again inspires me. The answer is not in the heroine "acting like a hero." It's in her acting like . . . Elizabeth.

February 18, 2011

Unfortunately, I'm sad to say that I was unable to contribute a chapter to the immortal fiction masterwork that is Atlanta Nights. I'm sure that's all to the good. From page to film, filmmaker Rachael Saltzman has launched a Kickstarter campaign to make this amazing tale into the world's absolute rottenest, worst, drecktastic and wretched feature film ever to darken our theaters, home screens and other digital media. Just click - if you haven't done a Kickstarter campaign before, now is definitely the time to start!

Amy Sterling Casil, edited by Dario Ciriello: Panverse TwoThe second of Dario Ciriello's all-novella series. There's a reader review up and you'll definitely have to order this book, because I can tell that the "reviewer" didn't bother to read my story and appears to be doing a Harriet Klausner.

Algis Budrys: Hard Landing (Questar Science Fiction)My adored A.J. - passed away June 9, 2008. This is my personal favorite book of his, and is the novel most recently published (1993). You will need to order a used copy of this small Warner paperback. It is of the highest literary quality. I am so grateful that I told him that in hard, solid writing - as soon as I'd read it.

Amy Sterling Casil: Without AbsolutionMy first collection - short fiction and poetry - from 1998 to 2000. Does not include "To Kiss the Star," but does include "Jonny Punkinhead." With introduction by James P. Blaylock.

Book View Cafe Authors: Rocket Boy and the Geek GirlsThe mind tells the story--but the heart inspires it with dreams of what might be waiting Out There. With evocative stories of lost comrades, alien first contacts, and strange, often unexpected confrontations with evolving science, Rocket Boy And The Geek Girls embraces both our pulp-dream past and cutting-edge future.
Thirteen authors (fifteen if you count pseudonyms) from the Book View Café got together one rainy Saturday afternoon with a big bowl of popcorn and reruns of Buck Rogers. They started comparing short stories and a new anthology took form.
Rare reprints, hard-to-find favorites and new tales all combine in this one-of-a-kind story collection, available exclusively from Book View Press.
What happens when thirteen authors get to giggling over implausible titles for the collection? They choose the most illogical and then they have to write something to go with it. So, yes, there are three flash fiction versions of Rocket Boy and the Geek Girls.
Stories by: Vonda N. McIntyre, Brenda W. Clough, Katharine Kerr, Judith Tarr, P.R. Frost, Pati Nagle, Madeleine Robins, Nancy Jane Moore, Sarah Zettel, Amy Sterling Casil, Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff, Jennifer Stevenson, Sylvia Kelso, C.L. Anderson, and Irene Radford

Book View Cafe Authors: Mad Science CaféFrom the age of steam and the heirs of Dr. Frankenstein to the asteroid belt to the halls of Miskatonic University, the writers at Book View Café have concocted a beakerful of quaint, dangerous, sexy, clueless, genius, insane scientists, their assistants (sometimes equally if not even more deranged, not to mention bizarre), friends, test subjects, and adversaries.